ABSTRACT
As a final note, we should recognize that pollution is not just a recent phenomenon, although researchers have perhaps tended not to look for evidence of it as often as they should. For example, we noted above the importance of the developments as a consequence of urbanized settlement patterns. An episode of lake eutrophication is reported following the construction of the Via Cassia in c.171 BCE close to the Lago di Monterosi in Latium (Sallares, 1991). Hughes (1994) demonstrates that there must have been a concern for the increasing pollution of water supplies from ancient authors who indicate how water may be purified by filtration, percolation or boiling. Air pollution in Rome was also noted by Horace and other authors. A further element of urban life is the disposal of refuse, which in Rome was often simply carried out by dumping into the Tiber. However, the impacts of large amounts of decaying rubbish in the river and elsewhere in the city would have had led to significant pollution and probably the spreading of disease.
